WordPress has also changed somewhat, I’m not sure that I like it, but I’ll persevere.

Anyhoo, I’m hoping to revive this blog, and give it a bit of makeover to make it more useful and user friendly.

That’s all for now. If you’re still reading thank you for hanging around for so long.

I’m pretty sure it’s a job in a mill and I think I can make out the word ‘card’ but apart from that I’m flummoxed.

I’ve also added a couple of new links to the sidebar (which desperately needs updating because I’m sure some of the links no longer work). However, the new ones do!

The first is a blog compiled by a regular contributor here, Mick Gilbey where he kindly shares vast knowledge of the Gilby/Gilbey families. I do have a page devoted to my own branch of the family, but really, if you want to know more about the extended family and related branches Mick is the go-to guy.

The second is a lovely little site all about the village of Great Shelford in Cambridgeshire. If you have family from that area it’s a great place to find out more about the historical and societal changes they lived through.

That’s all for now

Ad pedem Parietis huic lapidi vicini jacet, Rebecca Lovering, mater Thomœ Lovering, Quæ cum annos Octoginta & unum implessit, morti cessit,
Sic gravidis onerata seges, subit horrea Culmis
Sic Matura suo tempore poma cadunt.

Obijt autem Junij 26, A. D. 1644.

Huic à Latere accumbit Blancia Lovering Uxor ejusdem Thomœ prima, quæ cum Sexaginta plus minus annos numerâsset tunc ablata: Sub hoc Lapide jacet Margeria ejusdem Thomœ Uxor secunda, de quâ, ut de Priore, dum vixerunt meritò affirmetur.

Utraque grata uni, vicinis grata et egenis, At nunc Cœlesti est Utraque juncta choro.

Obijt harum Prior Maij 12, 1658.

Posterior Aprilis 26, 1663.

I can see that the first paragraph refers to a Rebecca Lovering who is the mother of Thomas and died around the age of eighty, and also that further down it refers to two wives of Thomas, Blancia and Margeria, one of whom was about sixty, but the rest is a mystery so if you can fill in the gaps please share in the comments!

It’s lovely to see how much use the blog has had even during it’s hiatus, especially the GILBY thread which is turning into a really useful resource with a number of people posting details of their Gilby family and meeting up with others who are researching the same lines, plus the useful input of Michael who is something of a Gilby family historian.

I haven’t done a huge amount of genealogy over the last year or so – hit a lot of brickwalls which was frustrating – but I’ve been dipping my toe in the waters again on the last few months, and made a few break-throughs! With the help of the great people at rootschat.com I’ve made quite a lot of headway with my PUGH line, I’ll post more about that in the future when I’ve compiled everything.

I’ve also had a breakthrough in my COLLEDGE line (I haven’t added their details yet), discovering a link to Wendover in Buckinghamshire. William COLLEDGE, my great, great, great, great grandfather, was a boatman who carried cargo from Stratford on Avon to London. En route he would stop at Wendover, and there he met Edith MEAD, the daughter of the harbour master. They married in 1837 and their son, my direct ancestor, Thomas was born in Stratford in 1843.

I’ve also discovered a bit about Edith’s ancestry which includes the names LIPTRAP, GOWER/GOWEN, CAUDERY and DURRANT. The DURRANTs are particularly interesting: I’ve gone back as far as an Allim DURRANT – I’m very, very curious about how he came to have such an unusual forename. More digging needed!